Young, vibrant, star football player with a smile that would light up a room-- D'Andre Seals was destined for greatness after graduating from Pine Bluff High School in 2012. He was headed to Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., his freshman year on a football scholarship, and his mother Kymara Seals could see her son's bright future coming into focus.
What she could not see or would never imagine was that, after celebrating her son's achievements and success in high school, what would later follow would be the mourning and grieving of her son's untimely passing.
"I lost my son by suicide," said Seals.
Seals said she began to notice a change in her son's behavior that was different from that of the child she raised. "He had become aggressive and he wasn't sleeping," said Seals.
Despite those changes, D'Andre still managed to complete his freshman year in Kansas. But eventually the decision was made for him to come back home to Pine Bluff, and he transferred to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff for his sophomore year.
The underpinnings of his life, however, began to crumble further. From someone who was co-captain of his high school football team, his passion for football no longer existed. From someone who loved to be around family and friends, he began to isolate himself. From being a junior life member of the NAACP and a member of Breath of Life Church where he served as a youth usher, he began to question his faith.
Seals said his behavior continued to digress to the point that she assumed he was on drugs.
"I had him tested and it came back negative," she said. "I then had him diagnosed and two months after that we lost him to suicide."
D'Andre was diagnosed as being bipolar and having serious depression and other mental health conditions at the age of 19. He died on June 17, 2014, and for Seals, the episode shone a light on her own mental condition.
"I was diagnosed with severe anxiety, depression, mood disorder and PTSD in 2010 but never talked about it," said Seals. "I was four years in with treatments at Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Services when this happened and it set me back. It was a very traumatic experience. I grieved and I struggled."
Seals, a UAPB alum who was known as a community socialite and advocate, went into isolation for almost two years trying to cope with the loss of her son.
"I felt like it was my fault," said Seals. "I felt like I missed so many signs."
Seals said during D'Andre's 11th-grade year, she was going through a divorce with his dad. D'Andre also experienced heartbreak after his best friend died. Seals, who said her son became easily agitated, believes her son experienced a culture shock while living in Kansas and may have endured some tribulations at Bethany College.
"I just recently found out he had taken the starting position on the football team from the son of a prominent person in that community and it wasn't received well," said Seals. "I believe that also led to his psychotic break."
The latest published statistics on suicide from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States with an estimated 1.2 million suicide attempts. The Mayo Clinic says that teens vulnerable to suicide have mental health conditions. As a result of their mental health conditions, they have trouble coping with the stress of being a teen, such as dealing with rejection, failure, breakups, school difficulties and family turmoil. They might also be unable to see that they can turn their lives around -- and that suicide is a permanent response, not a solution, to a temporary problem.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, common signs of mental illness in adults and adolescents can include the following:
- Excessive worrying or fear
- Feeling excessively sad or low
- Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
- Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable "highs" or feelings of euphoria
- Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
- Avoiding friends and social activities
- Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
- Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired and low-energy
- Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
- Changes in sex drive
- Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don't exist in objective reality)
- Inability to perceive changes in one's own feelings, behavior or personality ("lack of insight" or anosognosia)
- Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs
- Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing "aches and pains")
- Thinking about suicide
- Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress
- Intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance
The alliance also states that a mental health condition isn't the result of one event. According to NAMI, research suggests multiple, linking causes such as genetics, environment and lifestyle will influence whether someone develops a mental health condition.
"None of this means that you're broken or that you, or your family, did something wrong," said NAMI in a release about mental illness. "Mental illness is no one's fault. And for many people, recovery -- including meaningful roles in social life, school and work -- is possible, especially when you start treatment early and play a strong role in your own recovery process."
Seals said D'Andre was on the road to recovery. He was admitted into an inpatient facility for seven days, taking medication and attending therapy sessions. Despite the healing efforts, D'Andre still fell victim to suicide.
After two years of silence following D'Andre's death, Seals no longer wanted to remain in the shadows of tragedy. It was time for her to raise awareness of this topic she says is widely stigmatized and often labeled taboo, especially in the minority population.
The D'Andre Seals Suicide Prevention Outreach Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was launched in 2019 by Seals with the purpose to educate and promote an awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention.
"Mental health and suicide are tough conversations to have but it's important that we normalize these conversations," said Seals, who broke her silence about her own mental struggles. The organization, she says, provides education and resources for people to get the help they need.
Just before Seals could get boots on the ground with her organization after its launch, covid-19 hit and prevented all in-person interactions in her attempts in trying to create safe spaces to have those tough conversations. "We had to move to a virtual platform, which did reach hundreds," said Seals.
After nearly three years of virtual meetings, the inaugural gala of the D'Andre Seals Suicide Prevention Outreach Program will be held in person, today at 6 p.m. at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, as September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
"Not only is September Suicide Prevention Awareness Month but his birthday is September 23," said Seals. "He would have been 28 years old."
According to Seals, all 350 tickets were sold out for this semiformal event that will include a silent auction, keynotes by Lorenzo Lewis of The Confess Project and entertainment by The Rodney Block Collective.
This gala is sponsored in part by Blue & You Foundation, Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Rice Clinic, Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Healthcare System and Dr. Stephen Broughton, and the Arkansas Minority Health Commission.
Seals' expectations for the event and events to come are to shift the public perception of mental illness.
By sharing her story and providing vital information, Seals is turning a personal tragedy into something positive to help others, by spreading hope and access to the resources needed to seek help and discuss suicide prevention.
If you or someone you know needs help now, you should immediately call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
"988" is now active across the United States and has been designated as the new three-digit dialing code that will route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
By calling or texting 988, according to officials, you will be connected to trained counselors that are part of the existing Lifeline network.
The first annual Inaugural Gala of the D’Andre Seals Suicide Prevention Outreach Program will be held in memory of D'Andre Seals, who committed suicide. The program is designed to educate and promote an awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention. (Special to the Commercial)
D'Andre Seals, a 2012 Pine Bluff High School graduate, committed suicide at the age of 19 on June 17, 2014. D'Andre was diagnosed with bipolar, major depression and other mental health conditions earlier that year. (Special to the Commercial)